Call for tractor driving competency tests for children following latest tragedies

Agri Kids chief executive Alma Jordan: 'The culture of teenage boys behind the steering wheels of tractors is engrained and entrenched in this country’s rural psyche.'

Children should be legally required to complete a driving competency test before they can drive a tractor, according to a leading farm safety campaigner.

It comes following the deaths of two teenagers last month. Keeley McGivney, 17, died when the tractor in which she was a passenger hit a ditch outside Middletown Cross in Cavan in May.

Earlier in the month Kyle Pilbrow, 13, died when the tractor he was driving overturned on a stretch of road at Scarduane near Claremorris, Co Mayo.

Alma Jordan, chief executive and founder of AgriKids, wants the same legal requirements covering the use of quad bikes that are coming in later this year to also apply to tractors.

Ms Jordan, who has run farm safety roadshows for more than 73,000 children in the past eight years, also wants a wider national debate about what she sees as “the elephant in the room” as far as farm safety is concerned.

“The culture of teenage boys behind the steering wheels of tractors is engrained and entrenched in this country’s rural psyche,” she said.

“It goes back decades, but we desperately need to break a culture that is literally killing children and bringing tragedies to rural communities, families and schools.

“We need to have a national conversation about this and we need to do something that is going to make these deaths stop."

Senator Gerard Craughwell is due to raise the issue of children driving tractors in the Oireachtas next week because, he said, “too many children are dying in tractor accidents”.

He believes the minimum legal age that someone can get behind the wheel of a tractor should be raised from 16 to 17.

He also believes there needs to be a national debate about the issue of children being legally allowed to drive tractors.

At this time of the year, for the farming community, the whole thing is about getting the job done and getting the job done quickly, and sometimes [children] do drive tractors and it’s totally irresponsible.

“I am seeing drivers younger than 16 in parts of rural Ireland. I’ve even seen kids as young as 13 driving tractors."

New legal requirements covering the use of quad bikes are due to come into effect on November 20.

They will require all workplace quad bike drivers to complete a quad bike training course provided by a registered training provider and they will all have to wear a helmet.

According to the Health and Safety Authority (HSA), vehicles and machinery accounted for about half of all farm deaths in the past 10 years, with elderly farmers and children particularly at risk.

Currently, 16-year-olds are legally allowed to drive farm vehicles on the road unaccompanied as long as they have a provisional learner permit.

Gardaí were asked what they are doing about the issue and what they can do to stop children driving tractors on Irish roads.

They replied: “An Garda Síochána proactively enforces road traffic legislation in relation to the use of agricultural vehicles on Irish roads.

“An Garda Síochána encourages the responsible operation of all vehicles that are used on Irish roads."

The Road Safety Authority said it regularly attends the National Ploughing Championships and Tullamore Show where it discusses the importance of tractor safety with young people and parents.